DIY String Art Card Holder

I wanted to display a few of our

Christmas cards but wasn't quite sure

where, or how, I wanted to display them.

I wanted to be able to use what I could

find in my craft room without going

to a store to purchase any materials.

I was already busy enough.

I needed something that was quick and easy.

As I was brain storming how I was going

to hang them this idea pop into my head

that I had seen years ago on Pinterest.

So I dug thru my craft room and in

15 minutes time I created a simple

Christmas card holder.

I created it with twine, clear double sided tape, mini ornaments

and  mini red clothes pins.

Using gold cardstock, I cut out a star to place at the top of the tree.

I decided to place it on the wall in the kitchen by our back door.

It doesn't get much simpler than that.

Happy Holidays!

Until Next Time,

Veronica

Christmas Home Tour 2018

Finally, our home is ready

for our Christmas Home Tour.

I've actually had it decorated for a

month but decided I wanted to add

a few more things that I wanted to create.

Let's start the tour in the kitchen

since this is the room that has the

least amount of decorations.

This little set up is in our window

above the sink. Those little eyelash trees,

(at least that's what I'm calling them)

are one of my newest creations.
They're made from an old hymnal book.

The country cupboard.

Moving into the dining room.

The dining room table.

The Pie Safe.

I've had this little tree made from tiny pinecones

for 20+ years. I set it out somewhere every year.

Our Nativity was placed on the buffet table

again this year. I love how it looks there.

A view at night looking into the living room.

Moving into the living room.

Each chair received a warm throw and pillow.

New pillow covers I made for the couch to

coordinate with the Merry Christmas

pillow cover I created last year.

I created a new sign from a piece of plywood

I found in our scrap pile in the garage

to place above the mantel.

Hubby made me a frame for it.

This sign was my inspirations this year

for decorating the mantel.

Large mercury glass trees were added to the mantel.

I removed the bottoms from the mercury glass trees

and galvanized houses and placed a string of twinkle lights
inside each one.

All of our lights and flameless candles are on timers

that automatically turn on at a set time each evening

and stay on for 6 hours. No more racing around

the house to turn everything on and off.

A night time view.

I hope you enjoyed our Christmas home tour.

From our home to yours,

Have a very Merry Christmas.

Until Next Time,

Veronica

Shortbread Goodness

What's the holidays without
a little sweetness to go along with them?

I just had to share these melt in your mouth
Shortbread Cookies.

Need I say more?
I know you may find this hard to believe, but I've never

made Shortbread cookies.

Until now that is.

I usually make Sugar cookies for the holidays.

The only thing about Sugar cookies is they contain eggs.

I wanted to make a holiday cookie that our Grandson

could enjoy and not have an allergic reaction from.

Shortbread cookies to the rescue!

These cookies are crispy on the edges with a center

that melts in your mouth.

Plain or decorated, it matters not. They will still melt in your mouth.

And the buttery shortbread goodness taste from

these cookies is pure heaven.

These will definitely be in my holiday baking folder.

Oh, by the way, they were a huge hit with our Grandson.

MELT IN YOUR MOUTH SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Ingredients:

2 cups Butter, softened

1 cup Granulated Sugar

1/8 cup Confectioners' Sugar, sifted

1/8 cup Light Brown Sugar, firmly packed

2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

4 - 5 cups All-Purpose Flour, sifted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°

Cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Stir in vanilla; add flour 1 cup at a time and mix well until dough forms a soft ball.

Wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Flour a surface and roll the dough out to about 1/4 and cut it out with cookie cutters.

Bake for 10 - 12 minutes, or until the edges are slightly brown.

Let cool completely. These are great on their own but you can decorate if you so desire.

*If you don't want to use cookie cutters*

Roll the dough ball into a log shape and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Remove dough log from the refrigerator and slice into 1/4" thick slices.

Until Next Time,

Veronica

Traditions

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving

and you were able to share it with family

and friends.

Our Son and Daughter-in-law celebrated

Thanksgiving in Iowa with family there.

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving

on Saturday because there was no

way our son was going to miss out

on his Mom's traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

So, a Saturday Thanksgiving dinner it was.

Plus, I didn't want to miss out on an

opportunity to spend time with our grandchildren

and pass on our family traditions.

Our grandson grabbed his 2 stuffed animals and his

favorite blanket and crawled up on Papa's lap to watch football.

We are all about traditions in our home.

One of those traditions is to have our

Christmas tree up and decorated for

Thanksgiving.

This year I was super excited about

putting up the Christmas tree because our

oldest grandson turned two.

I wanted to be able to capture the

moments when he first spotted the tree.
Upon arriving he quickly spotted the tree

and ran over to it and was in awe.

Then he sat down and just starred at it.

After he was done looking he wanted to start exploring.

Our tree is never off limits to children.

I want them to be able to touch and explore.

All breakable ornaments are hung high out of
the reach of little fingers.

He made his way around the tree touching and exploring.

He was so gentle with the ornaments.

After he was done exploring the top of the tree

he crawled under the tree

to check out the lights.

His favorite blanket is always with him.

Another tradition that I've been doing since

our son was young is to buy a

Christmas ornament and attach it to one

of his presents. He has quite the collection

to decorate his own Christmas tree now.

I will continue this tradition with our grandchildren as well.

I can't wait until Christmas arrives to capture those moments
when our grandson gets to see

the presents under the tree.

You can bet I'll have my camera ready!

That's it for this week.

Until Next Time,

Veronica

Restoring A Family Heirloom

One thing I've discovered about myself is,

I love to restore old furniture.

I find it very therapeutic.
Plus, I love a good challenge.

I enjoy taking an old time worn piece

that had seen better days and turning it

into a beautiful piece that I'm proud to

display in our home.

I've restored pieces that I've picked up at

thrift stores for less than $10.00.

 Pieces that have been donated to me.

Heck,

I've even been known to pick pieces

out of dumpsters to restore.

I'm always on the lookout for an old

piece of furniture to restore.

My father-in-law has a dresser that I've

had my eye on for years.

This dresser has been in my Hubby's family for

generations and holds a ton of sentimental value.

I mentioned to my father-in-law that I would like

to have that dresser some day.

Well, that day has finally come.

Once we got this baby home I did a quick assessment.

Although the picture above looks nice, this dresser

needed a lot of TLC.

It had been stored in a damp basement and had a lot

of mold all over the entire dresser, both inside and out.

At some point in time, something was spilled on the top and

was never cleaned off, causing damage to the top corner.

This side of the dresser had a lot of moisture damage.

I was pretty sure that I would be able to repair
all the cosmetic damage that this dresser had.

What I wasn't completely confident about was trying

to get rid of the musty mildew smell that permeated

the entire dresser.

It was bad.

Real bad.

First up was tackling the mold issue.
I completely wiped down the entire
dresser inside and out with white vinegar
then let it bake in the sun for a couple of days.
To tackle the damage to the top,
I sanded it down as best I could
then set the dresser out in the sun
to dry out the wet area,
lightly sanding each day until
the area was completely dry.
This took approximately 2 weeks to complete.

I was hoping that by leaving the dresser out-
side for a couple of weeks it would take care
of the musty mildew odor.
Nope, didn't happen.
Not even a little.

Well, I'm happy to report that I was successful
at removing ALL of the musty mildew smell.

My secret.
 This miracle product.
I'm not kidding, this stuff ROCKS.

I wasn't even compensated for saying that.

Using my spray gun, I completely sprayed
the entire dresser and drawers inside and out,
with the exception of the top which I sanded.
I also have to mention that Hubby replaced
all of the drawer bottoms with new wood.
The drawer bottoms were too moldy
and warped from moisture. It wasn't
worth the effort to try and salvage them.

As I mentioned earlier,
I'm always up for a good challenge.
This dresser was definitely a good CHALLENGE.
There were times I almost threw in the towel.

This time worn dresser went from this....

TO THIS.

Just look at how beautiful that top is.

And that damage to the top.
G.O.N.E.

I loved the original keyhole covers but didn't know
if I could remove them without damaging them, and
if I could remove them could I clean them up enough to keep?

They came off super easy.
To clean them up,
I soaked them in 100% acetone,
a.k.a. fingernail polish remover,
and used an old soft toothbrush.
Under all those layers of dirt and grime
was a beautiful gold tone.

Using a paint brush I applied 2 coats of Farmhouse white paint.
To protect all my hard work I applied 2 coats of polycrylic to
the entire dresser, even to the inside of the drawers.
Once everything was dry new knobs were added to dress it up.

I'm a sucker for those curves.

Aren't they beautiful?

Oh, and the side damage.

You would never know it existed.

The final step was to find wooden wheels that the dresser
had lost over the years.
Mission accomplished.

I'm so glad I rescued this dresser when I did
before it got to the point of no return.

We now have a beautifully restored family heirloom
that will continue to stay in the family for generations to come.

That's it for this week.
Until Next Time,
Veronica